Naples & Rome

Our visit to Naples started off a bit rocky—we took the bus to the train station and on our 10 minute bus ride Fritz was pick-pocketed. Luckily they only got his cruise card as he had heeded all the warnings and had his wallet in the inside pocket of his European Man Bag (really an Eddie Bauer nylon shoulder bag) which he had firmly held by his side. He was wedged up against the wall so he couldn’t move his other arm and we were wedged in like sardines. The guy was good—while face to face with Fritz he managed to reach inside his windbreaker and get the card out of his shirt pocket. 

It didn’t stop us enjoying the day. We took the train to Pompeii where we joined a small group of English speakers on a private tour. Our guide, Pasquale, was excellent (he’s been doing it 42 years) and we learned more about the Romans (they were only 5 feet tall while their slaves were over 6 feet) than we ever could have imagined. Did you know that the wine bottles had pointed bottoms because they used to stick them in the sand in the hold of the ship that was used for ballast.

After Pompeii, we got back on the train and headed south to Sorrento. We were really struck by the graffiti. It’s such a shame that beautiful historic buildings, along with every other surface, including most train station signs and all of the train cars, are covered. There doesn’t seem to be any effort to cover any of it up.

Sorrento was lovely. Our new best friend, Enrico, made us fabulous pizzas in his fancy pizza oven and we trekked down the little windy side streets down to the harbor to catch our hydrofoil back to Naples. Very conveniently the hydrofoil dropped us just across the pier from our ship. Security is very laissez-faire on the dock in Naples, so we were able to get Fritz back to the ship to report his lost card. 

After Naples it was on to Rome. The ship docked in Civitavecchia which is about an hour and a half from Rome by train. We bought our all day train, bus and metro passes for 9 Euros and hopped the first train. Here’s the “it’s a small world” story for this trip. The people sitting across the aisle from us were from Seward Park in Seattle. When I said that I had lived there when we first came from England in 1966 they asked us where. I described the house and location and she said “well that’s 5403 and that’s my sister’s house”. Amazing! (and, they weren’t from the ship—just random travelers).

What’s not to love about Rome? The weather was gorgeous, about 70 degrees, and the sun was shining, and the sky was blue. We wandered around and threw our coins in the Trevi Fountain and meandered by the Pantheon. We had a great birthday lunch for Barbara on the Piazza Navonne. Sipping wine, while eating our caprese salads and spaghetti carbonara-- the music playing and the waiters humming in the background—it doesn’t get much better!

We completed our loop walking tour by going past the Vittorio Emmanuel memorial and back up to the train station. We topped off our day with gelato—just a little snack before a 5 course dinner.  Next port—new clothes with spandex!